Texturing a Sphere

Let's assume you want to create something that looks like the planet earth. You want to apply a map of the earth to a sphere.
There are 2 ways to texture a sphere. Either by applying a cubemap or either by applying a 2D texture. For best result, use a cubemap. The problem with applying a 2D texture is that when you wrap a 2D texture onto a sphere, the top and bottom area of the sphere, the texture looks squeezed.